Yes, but when Cain killed his brother that was also far from righteousness.
Although I disagree with the sacrificial system you still have to understand their intentions. Let me give you an example and I apologize in advance for how ridiculous it is but that's the point.
So you go to the store. You see a 2019 laptop on the shelf.
as a matter of fact, it's this one:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W4SGSKX/?coliid=I2S64BYMK8TV9X&colid=1N00ZXB2I8UDQ&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
$2500 is the "value" set because that is the estimation of the seller for how much people are willing to "pay".
But you, really love grape juice. So you go in with a single glass of grape juice and offer that in exchange for the $2500 laptop.
Will it be accepted?
the sacrificial system was about paying for your own life. Because (and keep in mind I'm simply going by the theology of the bible, not using it to tell you that you're wrong) since the "wages of sin is death" you were basically forfeiting your life by sinning. This was before the concept of eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, where the penalty of every crime wasn't death.
The fear of sin and crime in general in many societies; is almost always exaggerated. In what world should you go to jail for years for a robbery in which no one was hurt? In what world should I have to pay $100 for going over the speed limit and getting caught NOT damaging or injuring another party? It's because of the fear.
The "Wages of sin is death" because every action has a reaction. This could be thought of similar to the butterfly effect. We don't know how our actions may cause other actions which cause other actions but that has been the result. Think about it. I would say the vast majority of crime is LEARNED behaviors, not invented by the person doing it and often inspired by something they saw or experienced. So most crimes are not just from one person to another. They come from somewhere like a person has parents, grandparents, etc. Ideas... come from somewhere. And we can build on them or fear them, but once they exist its almost impossible to put them back into Pandora's box.
So imagine if there was a person who you could execute that would prevent WWIII, would you do it? What if you could execute a single person and prevent HIV/AIDS? What if you could execute one person and prevent the flu? Is it worth that one person dying?
Is it worth their sacrifice??
Back to the grape juice...
As much as grape juice may mean to you and make you happy, it is certainly not enough to pay for a laptop. Sorry. Plants are also alive. I think the fact that they don't have blood isn't that important. It's still life. We differentiate life because, as we do this, we're assigning "higher value". You value the life of a bird above grass and a goat above flowers. So in your mind, the biblical God should have happily taken the plants as an offering.
But the thing we're seeking in exchange is your life. Because now that we're sinning we need to pay. And the wages of sin was death. And this is before we started paying for the crime as opposed to the whole person, but that idea was still there because Yeshua said, even in the New Testament, in Matthew 5:29...
And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
So the sacrificial system was always about saving the whole person who had lost the right to live, rather than appeasing God for a single infraction. A single infraction was more like an infection. This is why some communities basically isolate themselves from the rest of the world. It's the idea that sin spreads much like a virus and how do you save the infected without killing them when they can't seem to stop sinning (or in other words, communicating the disease)? Of course, if you ask me this is where education comes in, as punishment is simply a less effective form of education. But the individual who dies doesn't get to learn anything. The lesson is for the survivors.
So when Abel had to kill a lamb that he loved he felt the weight of his own sin. This was a superior sacrifice because you can breed as many lambs as you like, but you'll never get back that one. This is also expressed in the parables of the lost sheep, coin, and son. If it's just fruits and veggies, well, we eat those. All the time. Like it's nothing. We don't have to hear the plants dying. We don't have to consider their children. We don't have to see the same kind of blood that we ourselves have. The more like us an animal is, the more we tend to value it; especially when animals exhibit intelligence or human like emotions or behaviors.
So it was really about value and the greater the value the greater the sacrifice. And the more loss you felt the more you would be motivated not to sin again. Consider this.
We've gone away from that system. Do people behave in a manner as if they have sacrificed the life of a man, every time they sin? Or do they sin more like they had only sacrificed some flowers? (note: we kill flowers just to give them to people to make them feel special, or for a holiday, or for condolences, etc.) There MIGHT be less sin, less suffering, less crimes against humanity, more love and more peace, if everyone had to pay a greater cost when they sinned; something personal or even something that was simply hard to replace. If everyone had to pay a percentage of their income, for example.
But anyway, that's why Cain's offering wasn't good. And of course he turns around and becomes the first murderer.
selah
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